What Do You Call A Couch Potato That Surfs?

If you read the beginning of The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, he talks about how this next generation is changing it’s consumption habits because of the choices we now have. People are abandoning watching TV to surf the internet, IM, download stuff and more. It’s an example of choose door #1 or door #2.

But what if you could have both?

That square window you stare at in front of your PC is the same as the black glass square window you used to watch all the time with a remote in your hands. Now you have both worlds in one place. The TV on your PC.

I personally have a TV tuner card inside my desktop PC that has a cable tv feed, so I can watch full-screen or PIP TV on my desktop while I work. I can even put the video in the background and just listen to a tv program if I want. And depending on your hard drive size, you can run DVR software to record and time-shift video just like a Tivo. Afterall, a Tivo is just a small dedicated Linux computer in a box with a TV tuner as the video input source.

Other devices are external and easier to install which do the same thing pretty much. In fact, with an external tv tuner for your PC, you can convert any LCD or CRT monitor into a TV set! Why buy expensive LCD TV’s, when you can create one yourself with a computer LCD monitor?

They usually come with a remote control allowing you to change channels, select source input, and other features from the comfort of your chair or sofa. Enjoy being a coach potato with the full function remote controller. The set-up is very painless and easy with external ones. You basically let it sit between your PC and monitor so that the PC plugs into the device, the device plugs into the monitor and speakers. Next you just hook up the cable tv signal (or any other A/V input signal) and the plug the TV tuner box into the wall.

The next time you feel that you’d rather be watching ESPN vs. working, you can actually sit back and do both. Just think how PRODUCTIVE you’ll actually feel! Work + Play all at once!

The best part is that you don’t have to even get up from your chair to get one! Just order online from your PC. Talk about ultimate laziness. Ahhhh……

Here are some comments from customers to give you an idea of how easy and neat it is to have TV on your PC:

Tom

I purchased this to use a Monitor as a functioning TV. It was easy to hook up, had all the right connection cords and with some fiddling produced an excellent TV picture. My Monitor is HD capable but this tuner is not designed to handle an HD signal. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the performance so far. With the rebates(very slow to come) it was an economical purchase as well. It can also be used in conjunction with a PC, and has a picture in picture function to watch a TV and PC screen at the same time on one monitor.

CC

This is so easy to set up and is surprisingly versatile with regards to inputs and outputs. I had a doubt about how I was going to connect my laptop to the monitor and switch between the TV and computer. The device patches between your computer and the monitor and while it is turned off, passes the signal from your computer to the monitor. When you turn it on, it turns on the TV full screen. If you want to use PIP, simply press the PIP button and you have a small TV window on your screen while you work. The PIP window does get in the way somewhat and you cannot move it away with your mouse but you can choose 1 of 9 positions for the PIP window using the remote. The device manages audio patch through from your computer as well – they’ve thought of everything!